Marcus. I’m afraid I totally disagree with your recommendation, although I appreciate your experience may have been different from mine. Last month I completed the return Svalbard Express trip Bergen to Bergen, and it was the best cruise I have ever taken. Excellent food and superb service throughout, as well as access to smaller ports that large ships can’t access. I have been fortunate enough to take over 35 cruises all over the world with a wide range of cruise lines, and cabin levels, so I’m not a “newby”.
I really think you were a bit hard on Hurtigruten Markus. I really enjoyed my trip. If you want to see Norway rather than enjoy a floating hotel Hurtigruten is the shipping line for you. Are you sure you were comparing the right fares? I thought I had a great deal and then I added the meals.
Well, Hurtigruten is not a cruiseship for spoiled rich people. Its a post and passenger route along our long coast. If you want a luxury cruice, find a cruise ship with all the luxury you want.
You can never compare a ship almost 30 years old with a brand new one. We have done two trips with Hurtigruten, the first northbound on Kong Harald and the second southbound on Otto Sverdrup a few years apart and those trips have been among the most wonderful trips we ever have done. We live in southern Sweden and brought our car with us on both trips to be able to combine with road trips one trough Norway and one through Sweden/Finland/Norway. Yes Hurtigruten is a bit expensive (as everything in Norway) but worth every single penny. I can really recommend it, we have the best memories.
I most certainly can compare ships. Especially when you have two companies operating the exact same route. I cannot think of a more comparable example!
@@katarinamaersksekkingstad4480 What is, in your experience, the difference between Havila and Hurtigruten on the same route? I could hardly think of anything Hurtigruten did better. I would think that the ports and the service to the coastal community is exactly the same, but maybe I'm missing something fundamental.
Hi! Just came across this video bc I am interested seeing the Norwegian Fjords I saw the title card and watched it bc it was completely different from what most people say about Huertigruten I think your expectations were too high for what the ship is. Folks go this route & ship bc it runs close to the coast & small towns that other cruises cannot I do agree the TV being broken is a bummer I had the same issue on my recent cruise on the QM2 & it was never fixed. I looked at the other titles of your videos They seem to me that they are written negatively to get more views Is this true? Happy travels!
I have plans to go on the Hurtigruten, I don't really understand why you discourage people from going other than broken TV and bad signage. Now I don't have a handle on the prices, really how much more expensive it is on the English sute and the Norwegian site as I only visited the Swedish site andI think the prices are okay in Swedish kronor when I was on their website.
@@MarkusTravels Entirely different ships performing entirely different functions. Hurtigruten vessels provide an essential public service to our coastal communities. The other lot merely provides tourist transport, providing no essential public service. That you upset yourself over a faulty TV is simply pathetic. My wife, our young daughters have travelled with Hurtigruten several times and have neither interest nor knowledge about the TV in our cabin working. It simply isn’t of consequence on such a voyage. on Tuesday we leave Bergen for Alta and, despite your imaginary scam, we’re travelling with Hurtigruten.
@@sisselnilsen4699 He isn’t like any Swede I’ve ever met. His ignorance initially suggested to me he might be a U.S. American. I rarely encounter Swedes with a negative attitude to Norway.
Its mostly a ferry company who offers costal transporation in Norway and so called cruises. Its similar what most of the Baltic sea companies offer. If you Google a little, then renovations was done in 2016 for this ship and they do not renovate the rooms and focus more on common areas. Just do the research before booking a trip..
It is not a scam, I don’t think you understand how these things work. I would have preferred if you had done a little research before making these claims. Because of that you get a thumbs down.
@ If you’re going to post on TH-cam at least have the decency to be truthful. You’re a right sarcastic little git…maybe look at something else for a career.
Yes, it's not really a cruise ship. But I think a cruise just means it goes out and comes back to the same place. And that the ship does, for example Berge-Kirkenes-Bergen.
@@MarkusTravels An entirely nonsensical definition. My father in law’s fishing boats leave from Bergen and return to Bergen. If you define that as being a cruise, you’re in for a serious surprise.
@@jandmath Fair comment. I expressed myself badly. Yes the ship always comes back. I was more thinking of the product you buy. On a ferry, you typically go one-way somewhere and do your business. On a cruise, you stay on the same ship, which takes you back as well. That was my thinking. But I'd better look up the definition properly! 🔍
We had a wonderful cruise on Hurtigruten's MS Nordkapp in October. We never expected a luxury cruise ship; we actually prefer small ships. I cannot say enough in praise of the ship and the company. Because it was a small ship, we were able to get to know the crew, who were excellent. The voyage is correctly called the World's Most Beautiful Voyage. - the scenery is stunning. We enjoyed the daily briefings and the excursions. We completely disagree with Markus. We loved our voyage on Nordkapp and would love to do it again.
@@MrStian78 We haven’t banned them but we’re certainly imposing conditions on their operation to make them less harmful. Our government is working towards a ban on the things.
Buddy, you need to get a steady-cam to make the video smooth. I had to bail out after your visit to the store, quite jumpy. You have a nasty attitude about this ship; I think your expectations were way too high.
I'm sorry but you are so wrong two days as opposed to two weeks. Where is the reality of this? My wife and I have travelled extensively around the world and did the BKB trip five years ago. We thoroughly enjoyed it and would love to return at a different time of year to compare the difference of weather. Complaining about the hotel before, the check in, the room. Your a whinger
.....and what was the scam....as claimed in the thumbnail....?????? You mostly sounded like a theatrical and spoiled kid.... OK...the TV didn't work....did you report it? What do you expect from a 30 years old ferry? Was it the colour on the walls that made you unhappy...??? Hurtigruten has new ships on the drawing board. But they have to wait until the next bidding for the new contract period. The Norwegian state own the rights for the route ....and pays for the service the coastal express deliver. So with given intervals there are a bidding compensation for a contract with the state ....according to the EU-regulations. Hurtigruten are no longer owned by Norwegians, but by a British investment company....hence they are the ones to make the calls and standards. Havila on the other hand is a fully Norwegian company. When it comes to food there are different tastes ....and that's not a wrong doing or a scam. There are others who prefer the food on Hurtigruten instead of Havila. To make a case out of that the northern light forecast was not updated ...it was "2 days old" is ridiculous. Of course .....simply because your travel was so far south that there will not be any northern light whatsoever ....so what is there to update....??? Bergen is around on the same latitude as Oslo, Stockholm and Helsinki. Have you made any video about the ferry Stockholm to Helsinki hadn't updated northern light forecasts....or no such at all...??? ....and why do you ...at all...book a sea voyage when you can not handle it...???
i did 5 times Hurtigruten and 2 times Havila, its still the best sea voyage, for me at the Moment, Havila has better prices, Food and new ships. at no time i need a tv while the awesome scenery is the Program. its a bucketlist voage you never should /will miss March 25 will be my next trip ! i love Norge.
I found your weird facial expressions and your insipid little voice to be weird and distracting but your ignorance is of much more concern. Your supposed “scam” is nothing of the sort. This ferry company receives significant subsidies from the Norwegian government for the services it provides to Norwegians and their coastal communities. These subsidies are passed on to Norwegian passengers in the form of ticket subsidies. There is no logical reason to pass the subsidies on to benefit foreign tourists. Norwegian passengers are subsidised, foreign tourists are not. No scam involved, only an expression of your ignorance.
So the subsidies only go to Hurtigruten and not to Havila? They operate the same route, just on different days. And on Havila, the prices in Norwegian and English are the same.
@@MarkusTravels Havila provides no services that qualify them for government subsidies. They’re merely a tourism operator. Unlike Hurtigruten ships, Havila ships aren’t designed to carry freight, they don’t carry mail and they provide no essential public transport service. If Havila ceased operation, few would notice. If Hurtigruten did so, it would cause major problems. I’d suggest that our government likely wouldn’t let them fail. The carriage of Norwegian passengers attracts no subsidy on Havila, giving them no obligation to charge lower fares to Norwegians. Your ignorance in alleging your imaginary “scam” is staggering. Clearly your knowledge of the shipping or tourism industries is non existent.
@@katarinamaersksekkingstad4480 Ah, now I see what happened. You must be thinking of a different company than Havila Kystruten AS. Havila Kystruten AS operates 4 of the 11 ships on the coastal express route; they do carry mail (they even fly the Post flag!); they do carry cargo; even a few cars. It's the same service along the coast, same ports, same timetable, only that Havila does it better than Hurtigruten. I tried both on the same route, but in different directions.
@@MarkusTravels Not surprisingly, you’re wrong again, just as you were about your imaginary “scam”. As expected from such a feeble looking little man, you have a real problem with simply admitting you made a mistake. Curiously, Havila do claim to carry a few cars and cargo. Strangely in a country where well over 90%of the cars on our roads are electric or hybrid, they refuse to carry electric or hybrid cars. They’re also unable to load or unload cars at most ports of call, leaving me to wonder how effectively they can load or offload cargo. My father in law ships fresh fish up the coast to these settlements. Far from doing that “better than Hurtigruten”, Havila is entirely incapable of offering an acceptable service to the coastal communities. Their less frequent service fails to meet community needs. Hurtigruten operates 7 ships, allowing a more regular service to the communities. We clearly have very different priorities and expectations from a scheduled ferry service. We’ve travelled on Hurtigruten boats several times, are heading to deliver gifts to Alta tomorrow evening from Bergen and will again be perfectly happy on Hurtigruten. If Havil are operating as a mail boat, as you claim, they certainly aren’t passing that subsidy on to Norwegian passengers. You’re a tedious little man from whom I’d welcome no further communication.
Thank you for making this video. I was considering a trip with them but after watching your video I will be booking with a different line. You are not the first person to say this line is not the best line to cruise on.
Thanks for showing this and telling us the scams. Personally I don´t like boat tripps, going sea sick, but going south I migth take the Göteborg-Kiel ferry albeit Stena allways over charge you!
I was actually planning to take the Kiell ferry home to Gothenburg this Christmas. But with the train, it turned out to be cheaper to fly from Switzerland.
It's not a scam... On the Norvegian page, he booked a standard coastal express, and on the "International" page, a full voyage. (URL and name of the trip are different...).
I am a Norwegian. I know Hurtigruten too well as i live on the coastline. My word is.. Stay away from it, its indeed the worst and insanly expensive. after TDR Capital took over the ownership its been all downhill.
We clearly have very different definitions of “insanely expensive” my wife, our two 11 year old daughters and I sail from Bergen to Alta on Tuesday. Our daily cost each is just over 100 NOK which includes the journey itself, our two cabins, three meals daily, internet access and spectacular scenery. To me, that represent excellent value.
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We took this cruise from Bergen to Kirkenes. The food was excellent. We loved the entire experience.
I'm happy you enjoyed the experience!
It’s not a cruiseship, it’s a coastal ferry.
That's correct.
Marcus. I’m afraid I totally disagree with your recommendation, although I appreciate your experience may have been different from mine. Last month I completed the return Svalbard Express trip Bergen to Bergen, and it was the best cruise I have ever taken. Excellent food and superb service throughout, as well as access to smaller ports that large ships can’t access. I have been fortunate enough to take over 35 cruises all over the world with a wide range of cruise lines, and cabin levels, so I’m not a “newby”.
I’m glad you had a great time on your cruise!
I really think you were a bit hard on Hurtigruten Markus. I really enjoyed my trip. If you want to see Norway rather than enjoy a floating hotel Hurtigruten is the shipping line for you. Are you sure you were comparing the right fares? I thought I had a great deal and then I added the meals.
It's not that Hurtigruten has a bad product. It's just that the competitor is so much better. You will see in my Havila video when it's out!
Marcus merely demonstrated his complete ignorance of the functions of those ferries.
@@katarinamaersksekkingstad4480 Thank you for that detailed explanation!
Congratulations to Markus Travels for doing one of the WORST Travel sites on TH-cam !
What a great review! A classic comment already.
Well, Hurtigruten is not a cruiseship for spoiled rich people. Its a post and passenger route along our long coast. If you want a luxury cruice, find a cruise ship with all the luxury you want.
Which luxuries did I say I was missing? My main complaint was about the scammy pricing.
@@MarkusTravels You did little but whinge throughout your second rate video and your imaginary scam exists only in your ignorance.
You can never compare a ship almost 30 years old with a brand new one.
We have done two trips with Hurtigruten, the first northbound on Kong Harald and the second southbound on Otto Sverdrup a few years apart and those trips have been among the most wonderful trips we ever have done. We live in southern Sweden and brought our car with us on both trips to be able to combine with road trips one trough Norway and one through Sweden/Finland/Norway.
Yes Hurtigruten is a bit expensive (as everything in Norway) but worth every single penny. I can really recommend it, we have the best memories.
I most certainly can compare ships. Especially when you have two companies operating the exact same route. I cannot think of a more comparable example!
@@MarkusTravels The other company provides a very different service to the communities it operates to.
@@katarinamaersksekkingstad4480 What is, in your experience, the difference between Havila and Hurtigruten on the same route? I could hardly think of anything Hurtigruten did better. I would think that the ports and the service to the coastal community is exactly the same, but maybe I'm missing something fundamental.
Hi! Just came across this video bc I am interested seeing the Norwegian Fjords I saw the title card and watched it bc it was completely different from what most people say about Huertigruten I think your expectations were too high for what the ship is. Folks go this route & ship bc it runs close to the coast & small towns that other cruises cannot I do agree the TV being broken is a bummer I had the same issue on my recent cruise on the QM2 & it was never fixed. I looked at the other titles of your videos They seem to me that they are written negatively to get more views Is this true? Happy travels!
I have plans to go on the Hurtigruten, I don't really understand why you discourage people from going other than broken TV and bad signage. Now I don't have a handle on the prices, really how much more expensive it is on the English sute and the Norwegian site as I only visited the Swedish site andI think the prices are okay in Swedish kronor when I was on their website.
One main reason is that Havila is so much better. Check them out before you book at least!
@@MarkusTravels Entirely different ships performing entirely different functions. Hurtigruten vessels provide an essential public service to our coastal communities. The other lot merely provides tourist transport, providing no essential public service. That you upset yourself over a faulty TV is simply pathetic. My wife, our young daughters have travelled with Hurtigruten several times and have neither interest nor knowledge about the TV in our cabin working. It simply isn’t of consequence on such a voyage. on Tuesday we leave Bergen for Alta and, despite your imaginary scam, we’re travelling with Hurtigruten.
He is Swedish, Norwegians know their attitudes to Norwegian stuff
@@sisselnilsen4699 He isn’t like any Swede I’ve ever met. His ignorance initially suggested to me he might be a U.S. American. I rarely encounter Swedes with a negative attitude to Norway.
Its mostly a ferry company who offers costal transporation in Norway and so called cruises. Its similar what most of the Baltic sea companies offer. If you Google a little, then renovations was done in 2016 for this ship and they do not renovate the rooms and focus more on common areas.
Just do the research before booking a trip..
Thanks for watching!
Can you pay with "just" a debitcard (with the visa logo) on Hurtigturen or do you need a creditcard? Experience, anyone?
I'm pretty sure you can use a debit card. Typically so long as they show the Visa logo, it doesn't matter if it's debit or credit.
Actually Trondheim is the third largest kommune in Norway, but the fourth largest urban area. Stavanger is the third largest urban area.
Thanks for watching!
It is not a scam, I don’t think you understand how these things work. I would have preferred if you had done a little research before making these claims. Because of that you get a thumbs down.
Now thanks to your comment I understand perfectly. Thanks for explaining the situation to me so eloquently and with such great detail!
@ If you’re going to post on TH-cam at least have the decency to be truthful. You’re a right sarcastic little git…maybe look at something else for a career.
It is not really a "cruise" its the postboat.
Yes, it's not really a cruise ship. But I think a cruise just means it goes out and comes back to the same place. And that the ship does, for example Berge-Kirkenes-Bergen.
@@MarkusTravelsBy that logic, wouldn’t any ferry be a cruiseship?
@@MarkusTravels An entirely nonsensical definition. My father in law’s fishing boats leave from Bergen and return to Bergen. If you define that as being a cruise, you’re in for a serious surprise.
@@jandmath Fair comment. I expressed myself badly. Yes the ship always comes back. I was more thinking of the product you buy. On a ferry, you typically go one-way somewhere and do your business. On a cruise, you stay on the same ship, which takes you back as well. That was my thinking. But I'd better look up the definition properly! 🔍
We had a wonderful cruise on Hurtigruten's MS Nordkapp in October. We never expected a luxury cruise ship; we actually prefer small ships. I cannot say enough in praise of the ship and the company. Because it was a small ship, we were able to get to know the crew, who were excellent. The voyage is correctly called the World's Most Beautiful Voyage. - the scenery is stunning. We enjoyed the daily briefings and the excursions. We completely disagree with Markus. We loved our voyage on Nordkapp and would love to do it again.
It's not a bad product Hurtigruten sells. It's just the the one from the competition is so much better.
@@MarkusTravels Hurtigruten ships are public service vessels. The other lot are merely tourist ships. They’re entirely different products by design.
It's NOT a cruise but a ferry service. Norway has banned cruise ships as environmentally unfriendly, unsustainable polluters. Good for Norway
Yes I think I called it a ferry on many occasions in the video.
What are you talking about? We have not banned cruiseships in Norway. Don’t talk about things you know nothing about!
@@MrStian78 We haven’t banned them but we’re certainly imposing conditions on their operation to make them less harmful. Our government is working towards a ban on the things.
Is Markus from Sweden !?
Ja det är jag, men bor i Schweiz sen många år.
That he is Swedish explain it all, Sweeds dont like Norway since we declared independence.
Wow. that has to be the first I've seen that have been properly dissatisfied with Hurtigruten since 1980. wow. Did you book directly with them?
Yes, I booked directly on their website. You can see the URL in the screenshots of the prices.
Buddy, you need to get a steady-cam to make the video smooth. I had to bail out after your visit to the store, quite jumpy. You have a nasty attitude about this ship; I think your expectations were way too high.
You're right, that shot could have been a lot steadier. Thanks for watching!
I'm sorry but you are so wrong two days as opposed to two weeks. Where is the reality of this?
My wife and I have travelled extensively around the world and did the BKB trip five years ago.
We thoroughly enjoyed it and would love to return at a different time of year to compare the difference of weather.
Complaining about the hotel before, the check in, the room. Your a whinger
I'm glad you had a good experience! I did too, on Havila a few days later.
.....and what was the scam....as claimed in the thumbnail....??????
You mostly sounded like a theatrical and spoiled kid.... OK...the TV didn't work....did you report it?
What do you expect from a 30 years old ferry? Was it the colour on the walls that made you unhappy...??? Hurtigruten has new ships on the drawing board. But they have to wait until the next bidding for the new contract period. The Norwegian state own the rights for the route ....and pays for the service the coastal express deliver. So with given intervals there are a bidding compensation for a contract with the state ....according to the EU-regulations. Hurtigruten are no longer owned by Norwegians, but by a British investment company....hence they are the ones to make the calls and standards.
Havila on the other hand is a fully Norwegian company.
When it comes to food there are different tastes ....and that's not a wrong doing or a scam.
There are others who prefer the food on Hurtigruten instead of Havila.
To make a case out of that the northern light forecast was not updated ...it was "2 days old" is ridiculous. Of course .....simply because your travel was so far south that there will not be any northern light whatsoever ....so what is there to update....??? Bergen is around on the same latitude as Oslo, Stockholm and Helsinki. Have you made any video about the ferry Stockholm to Helsinki hadn't updated northern light forecasts....or no such at all...???
....and why do you ...at all...book a sea voyage when you can not handle it...???
The scam is the difference in price in Norwegian and in English. Did you watch until the end when I show the screenshots?
i did 5 times Hurtigruten and 2 times Havila, its still the best sea voyage, for me at the Moment, Havila has better prices, Food and new ships. at no time i need a tv while the awesome scenery is the Program. its a bucketlist voage you never should /will miss March 25 will be my next trip ! i love Norge.
@@MarkusTravels your supposed scam exists only in your ignorance. Your video was much too poor to watch until anywhere close to the end.
The “scam”was entirely imaginary, a product of Marcus’ deep ignorance of shipping.
I found your weird facial expressions and your insipid little voice to be weird and distracting but your ignorance is of much more concern. Your supposed “scam” is nothing of the sort. This ferry company receives significant subsidies from the Norwegian government for the services it provides to Norwegians and their coastal communities. These subsidies are passed on to Norwegian passengers in the form of ticket subsidies. There is no logical reason to pass the subsidies on to benefit foreign tourists. Norwegian passengers are subsidised, foreign tourists are not. No scam involved, only an expression of your ignorance.
So the subsidies only go to Hurtigruten and not to Havila? They operate the same route, just on different days. And on Havila, the prices in Norwegian and English are the same.
@@MarkusTravels Havila provides no services that qualify them for government subsidies. They’re merely a tourism operator. Unlike Hurtigruten ships, Havila ships aren’t designed to carry freight, they don’t carry mail and they provide no essential public transport service. If Havila ceased operation, few would notice. If Hurtigruten did so, it would cause major problems. I’d suggest that our government likely wouldn’t let them fail. The carriage of Norwegian passengers attracts no subsidy on Havila, giving them no obligation to charge lower fares to Norwegians. Your ignorance in alleging your imaginary “scam” is staggering. Clearly your knowledge of the shipping or tourism industries is non existent.
@@katarinamaersksekkingstad4480 Ah, now I see what happened. You must be thinking of a different company than Havila Kystruten AS. Havila Kystruten AS operates 4 of the 11 ships on the coastal express route; they do carry mail (they even fly the Post flag!); they do carry cargo; even a few cars. It's the same service along the coast, same ports, same timetable, only that Havila does it better than Hurtigruten. I tried both on the same route, but in different directions.
@@MarkusTravels Not surprisingly, you’re wrong again, just as you were about your imaginary “scam”. As expected from such a feeble looking little man, you have a real problem with simply admitting you made a mistake.
Curiously, Havila do claim to carry a few cars and cargo. Strangely in a country where well over 90%of the cars on our roads are electric or hybrid, they refuse to carry electric or hybrid cars. They’re also unable to load or unload cars at most ports of call, leaving me to wonder how effectively they can load or offload cargo. My father in law ships fresh fish up the coast to these settlements. Far from doing that “better than Hurtigruten”, Havila is entirely incapable of offering an acceptable service to the coastal communities. Their less frequent service fails to meet community needs. Hurtigruten operates 7 ships, allowing a more regular service to the communities. We clearly have very different priorities and expectations from a scheduled ferry service. We’ve travelled on Hurtigruten boats several times, are heading to deliver gifts to Alta tomorrow evening from Bergen and will again be perfectly happy on Hurtigruten. If Havil are operating as a mail boat, as you claim, they certainly aren’t passing that subsidy on to Norwegian passengers. You’re a tedious little man from whom I’d welcome no further communication.
Thank you for making this video. I was considering a trip with them but after watching your video I will be booking with a different line. You are not the first person to say this line is not the best line to cruise on.
Thanks for watching! I'm glad you found it useful for your decision!
This video is not a Premium Experience.
Funny!
I LIVE IN NORWAY AND HURTIGRUTEN IS DE BEST CRUISE EVER❤
Thanks for showing this and telling us the scams. Personally I don´t like boat tripps, going sea sick, but going south I migth take the Göteborg-Kiel ferry albeit Stena allways over charge you!
I was actually planning to take the Kiell ferry home to Gothenburg this Christmas. But with the train, it turned out to be cheaper to fly from Switzerland.
It's not a scam... On the Norvegian page, he booked a standard coastal express, and on the "International" page, a full voyage. (URL and name of the trip are different...).
@@MR-qu5sm Now that's a good explanation. Thanks for sharing it!
I am a Norwegian. I know Hurtigruten too well as i live on the coastline.
My word is.. Stay away from it, its indeed the worst and insanly expensive.
after TDR Capital took over the ownership its been all downhill.
Great to hear your experience! Do you find Havila better, like I did?
We clearly have very different definitions of “insanely expensive” my wife, our two 11 year old daughters and I sail from Bergen to Alta on Tuesday. Our daily cost each is just over 100 NOK which includes the journey itself, our two cabins, three meals daily, internet access and spectacular scenery. To me, that represent excellent value.
Mannen er svensk - det sier alr
Det stämmer ju, det första du säger. Det andra vet jag inte vad det ska betyda.
0/10 pronounced polarlys in swedish not norwegian very disappoint
Agreed. Egregious.
Some people simply aren’t suited to narration. This guy presents as more than a little weird, a perpetual winger and petty in the extreme.
Thank you for sharing your valuable opinion about me!
@@MarkusTravels I doubt it’s of any value to you, given your disinterest in either the thoughts of others or the facts of a situation.
@@katarinamaersksekkingstad4480 This right here, this is a classic comment!